Facebook’s Developer Circles Draws Social and Online Learning Community Worldwide

Facebook last week at its F8 developer conference unveiled a program that aims to connect developers around the world and foster collaboration in computer science.

The new Developer Circles from Facebook program is free, community-driven and designed to create locally organized communities for developers, according to a company blog post. Local circles are run by “circle leads” who organize meetups, hackathons and other events and help promote events online. (Circle leads are selected by Facebook via application, but are not sponsored by Facebook in any way.) Membership is open to developers with varying experience and expertise, ranging from industry professionals to college students.

Aside from in-person events, members can “share knowledge, collaborate, build new ideas and learn about the latest technologies from Facebook and other industry leaders” in their designated Facebook Groups online, the blog post states. The program is in its early stages, but Facebook has already started piloting features in Facebook Groups like subject-specific “social learning units composed of sequential trainings,” the blog post states. Facebook partnered with online learning company Udacity to launch training programs that are tailored to the Developer Circles community, like classes on how to create a seamless user experience for mobile apps, for example.

Developer Circles is now available globally, with more than 20 active chapters already launched across Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, according to the program FAQ. Interested individuals can find a circle nearby or start their own.